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need advice about home stereo speakers

#41
T_Bone_TL said:
That's just over 3 hours of my time at the friends discount rate and somewhat shy of 2 hours at the general rate. I don't know about you, but if I'm doing skilled labor I had better be keeping up with my auto mechanic's rates, not minimum wage. Not that I do speaker surrounds (so far, anyway.)
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This isn't skilled labor. It's laying down four beads of glue and wait. That's the point. I think some people are missing that.
:)

I get the car repair equivalency and in many cases car repair estimates are just as big of a ripoff as this would be. I lucked out and found a local gas station that charges actual time and lets me supply my own parts. He's been in business 40 years and has a different work ethic from most shops. Pretty sure he'd get a chuckle out of that estimate too.
 
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#42
Lobster11 said:
With all due respect to @Brad Johnson, this is how I was thinking about it: I figured 2+ hours labor at a rate comparable to a good mechanic (but less than my plumber!).

I totally get the argument for a DYI re-foaming for the cost of a couple of kits: I don't think there is any doubt that this is by far the most cost-effective solution. However, I'm just not psyched (or optimistic) about the DYI project, and I have the dough (and wife's complete support) for buying something new. I'm 59, and I've bought exactly two sets of speakers in my lifetime: a pair of Bolivars (an offshoot of JBL) when I was in college in 1977, and the Cerwin-Vegas I purchased some time between then and now.

As stupid as it might sound from a practical perspective, I'm leaning toward treating myself to, say, a pair of Klipsch tower speakers (as several folks have suggested). I'm now looking at the R-26F's, which I think would pair well with my Denon amp/receiver. Anybody have any thoughts on those particular speakers?
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Then by all means rule out the repair. I was following the original post and offering advice that IMO was not just the cheapest, it was the easiest and made the most sense if you were happy with the speakers before the failure.

I have no problem with whatever choice you make. At 97dB sensitivity, R-26F's sound efficient enough and should work with your current receiver for anything short of a rave. Again, what I would do is simply what I would do.

Good luck.
 
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#43
Lobster11 said:
....I'm leaning toward treating myself to, say, a pair of Klipsch tower speakers (as several folks have suggested). I'm now looking at the R-26F's, which I think would pair well with my Denon amp/receiver.
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When you take them to the pawn shop, let @Brad Johnson know so he can swoop in and score a sweet deal.
As said previously, it's nice when someone else buys new and then contributes to the used market. :D

-Mike
 
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#45
I wonder what these sound like :)

s-l1600.jpg

QUADRAL ARGENTUM 570-schwarz | eBay

If I had a spare US $355.29, I'd be very tempted ;)
 
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#51
OP here again. Today I took the plunge and bought a pair of the Klipsch R-26F's. The balance was tipped when I discovered this morning that they had a pair in stock at the Best Buy 2 miles from my house, at the best price I was able to find anywhere on line. Somehow that seemed like fate. I ordered them on line for in-store pickup, and when I went to retrieve them was informed that, in the interim, the price had dropped 8 bucks per speaker, so they gave me 16 bucks back. Somehow that seemed like further confirmation of fate.

Now I can take my time to decide what I want to do with the Cerwin-Vegas, and I won't have to do without speakers until I figure that out. I haven't yet unpacked and set up the Klipsches, but I'll post an update when I do and let you know what I think of them. Thanks for all the input!
 
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#56
pie_man_25 said:
You'd be surprised. That being said, I've seen some very nice stuff in pawn shops as well.
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I'd be shocked. Unless they were sold with the hope of the buyer not realizing they have a problem...

I'm talking about the old Cerwin Vegas with no foam surrounds. Until they're repaired they're pretty much worthless, especially for resale.
 
#58
Brad Johnson said:
I'd be shocked. Unless they were sold with the hope of the buyer not realizing they have a problem...

I'm talking about the old Cerwin Vegas with no foam surrounds. Until they're repaired they're pretty much worthless, especially for resale.
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I'm not dissing on pawn shops, but I've seen stuff of all sorts being sold in non-working condition. While I haven't seen speakers without surrounds, I've seen many that weren't much better, and selling for hundreds of bucks.
 
#59
pie_man_25 said:
I'm not dissing on pawn shops, but I've seen stuff of all sorts being sold in non-working condition. While I haven't seen speakers without surrounds, I've seen many that weren't much better, and selling for hundreds of bucks.
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Here in the states I can't recall a pawnshop that would take an item in for collateral or pawn that was obviously not in working condition. They don't take the items in to keep them or worse, take a loss.
 

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